UPDATE 2-Obama holds White House talks on how to respond to Newtown massacre

WASHINGTON Dec 17 (Reuters) - A day after President Barack
Obama made an impassioned plea for changes to prevent another
gun-fueled massacre in the United States, the White House on
Monday declined to lay out details of what he planned to do or
how he planned to do it.

But Obama did hold talks with Vice President Joe Biden and
three Cabinet members in what a White House official said was an
effort to "begin looking at ways the country can respond to the
tragedy in Newtown."

The official said Obama had discussions with White House
senior staff as well as Education Secretary Arne Duncan,
Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

At a memorial service on Sunday for the victims of the mass
shooting at a Connecticut elementary school Obama made an
emotional pledge to launch an effort to reduce violence by
engaging law enforcement agencies, mental health professionals,
parents and educators.

He did not specifically mention gun control or gun
enthusiasts, however. After tragic shootings in the past, the
president has called for changes in some laws.

But there has been little political will on both sides of
the partisan divide in Washington to try to increase regulation
of firearms.

The White House on Monday declined to flesh out Obama's
pledge.

"I don't have a specific timeline for you for what the
president will do moving forward," spokesman Jay Carney told a
briefing. "I would simply refer you to his remarks last night
when he talked about the action he hoped to take to engage the
American people ... in the coming weeks."

Carney declined to comment on a proposal by independent
Senator Joe Lieberman calling for a commission on violence to be
set up.

Despite reiterating Obama's support for a renewal of a ban
on assault weapons, Carney also declined to say specifically
whether the president would back and help push a proposal that
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said she would put forward
next year to reinstate the ban.

"I'm not going to engage in specific point-by-point policy
proposals or prescriptions, but the president, as you know, has
long supported reinstating the assault weapons ban that expired
in 2004," Carney said. "As the president has said ... this is a
complex problem that requires complex and a variety of
solutions."

Carney did say that gun control - a divisive issue in the
United States - was part but not all of the answer to address
violence after the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

"I think it's part of it but it's far from all of it," he
said.

Despite not having to run for re-election, tackling guns
remains a tricky issue for Obama, who has other policy
priorities including immigration reform and deficit reduction in
his second term.